COTTON!

I wasn't sure my tubes in a box seedling incubator was going to work. Once I watered everything in, the tubes began to disintegrate (duh--they are paper. Next time I think I will try plastic soda/water bottles with the tops and bottoms cut off.)

So I planted the rest of the seeds in a cell pack, although I was tempted to put them right in the ground. It's been in the 80s the past five days or so.

But this morning I found this!

Time to plant the cotton.

The cotton seeds arrived yesterday from Joan at CottonSpinning.com!

My gardening lark this year is attempting to grow cotton. So the seeds are here, and mom's giant seed-starting grow light thing is at the ready.

Joan also kindly included two kinds of cotton roving (is the cotton kind called roving?) It's just beautiful. I can't wait to get it on my wheel.

I got four kinds of seeds: Green cotton from Joan's garden; Pima; Upland; and brown pima  from Joan's garden.

Spinning by the lake

Spinning BFL while my BFF Roc plays in the lake.

What a glorious day. I loaded up my wheel and little chair onto the little green wagon and took the boys down to the lake. The sound of the water lapping the shoreline was in sync with my spinning and the smell of the water was so relaxing. What a truly beautiful day. I'm so appreciative of this day. Thank you, Good Big Thing.

Canning in the Red Kitchen

Fantastic pickling cucumbers from the farmers market.

For dilly beans. The grower assured be that the purple beans will stay purple when pickled.

Peppers for color and flavor. The funny green ones came from a Hmong grower. I couldn't find out if they are a Laotian variety--they didn't know much about them. One kid said they are very very hot, another kid said they are like banana peppers.

Pyramid of pickles!

Pretty pickles

Beans formerly perceived as purple.

Just a beauty shot.

Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival

 Treasure from the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival:

Blue Faced Leicester from Briar Rose

Cormo top

Cormo top

BFL combed top

Shetland with silk noils roving

Shetland/silk noil roving

Shetland/silk singles

I can can!

I can grow vegetables; make bread; skirt a fleece; card, comb and spin; knit; sew; change tires;  rope and ride; milk a cow or a goat, but I had never canned until this summer.  I consulted the wonderful www.foodinjars.com and started making pickles about three weeks ago. It has cut into my fiber time, but it sure is fun.

I made seven pounds of lovely little cucumbers (or they might have been gherkins) into garlic dill pickles on Sunday. I  also made the red onion pickles and the dilly beans and the sweet cherries from FoodInJars.com recipes–all fantastic. I found some early okra at the farmers market last weekend and pickled that with a recipe from the LBJ Ranch (Ladybird’s recipe, supposedly). I waited four whole days before tasting them and they were pretty good, but lacked a little depth or complexity. I suspect I jumped the gun on opening them, but next time I will add more spices, too.

So now my pioneer-woman-skills toolbox is complete.

Pickled cherries

Pre-pickling

pickled peppers and pickled pickles

Pickled okra

Dilly beans!